Hey,

Been a few months since my thread.

Ive had my '81 280ZX T-Roof 5spd Manual for a few months now, after my brother has had it for the past 10 years.

280zx Front pic1 pic2 pic4 pic3

Runs excellent.

My dashboard is very badly cracked.

Cracked Dash pic1 Cracked Dash pic2 Cracked Dash pic3

Was planning on send it for a restore, but I managed to pick up a complete dashboard with gauges and all that was in perfect condition, but it was red.

New Dash p1 New Dash p2

So i've striped it down and used Vinyl Die to turn it black, so far its looking great, looks new!

New Dash - Vinyl Sprayed p1 New Dash - Vinyl Sprayed p2

I also sprayed the Guage inserts grey/silver - Plastic Gauge inserts

On the back of the main dash panel (speedo/tacho) you can easily twist and pull out the lightbulbs which illuminate the dashboard. Red = Orange Bulbs, Yellow = Clear Bulbs for Warning Lights/ Indicators.

Back of Dash Panel

The Bulbs are just a clear bulb with orange wrap around them.

Bulb In Socket Where bulb came from

You can take the bulb out of the socket as well

bulb seperate

Now i'll tell you where i'm heading.

I want to replace these dim bulbs with Bright LED, either a White or a Blue, i think this would light up the dash much better plus add a nice look to it at the same time.

I presume i'll need a resistor on each led. I was planning on soldering it straight to the rear of the dash on the gold contacts, or i could solder them into the orginal black bulb bases and screw the bases back in as normal.

The manual says -

Combination meter - Illumination/Warning Lights - 3.4w

Combination gauge - illumination light - 2.7w, Warning Lights - 3.4w

Instrument Console Illumination light - 1.4w

So i'm not sure which of these refers to what i'm after. Any ideas? If i can find the wattage, and the volts would be 12v i could calculate the amps etc and find an appropriate resistor.

Let me know what you think! Any help would be appreciated.

The resistor required for each of the LEDs will vary for different types of LEDs, as the different types are rated for different voltages and currents.

To keep the brightness between the LEDs balanced, you will want to try and relate the wattages of the previous bulbs to the brightness (mcd) of the LEDs. For example, you will want the combination gauge illumination light to have roughly double the brightness of the instrument console light. Don't be too worried about the voltages and amperages that the LEDs are rated at when you're buying them, you'll sort that out later.

Also keep in mind that a 2000mcd white LED will look brighter than a 2000mcd blue (or other coloured) LED.

Once you have you're LEDs then you just need to work out the required resistors for each using this formula (someone wanna check i have this right? )

R=V/I

where:

V = the voltage over the resistor = Voltage supplied - Voltage the LED is rated at

I = the current the LED is rated at

For example: Many common high intensity LEDs are 3.6V and around 20mA.

So R = (14.4V-3.6V) / 0.02A

=540ohm

If you find that they're a bit bright, you'll still be able to dim them with the instrument light dimmer knob. It might be checking before hand to see if the normal globes are actually getting 14.4V (or whatever you cars charging system runs at).

Hope that helps.

Sensational, thanks for that,

Could you please clear up which parts of the dash the combination gauge illumination lights and the instrument console lights are.

I was thinking 5000MCD blue, would that be too bright? 2000MCD be siufficiant?

A few more notes.

Where incandecent bulbs will generally cast their light in all directions around them, LEDs focus their light in an narrower path ahead of them. Without knowing exactly how the bulb are setup in the dash, I'd guess you are going to need the widest angle LEDs you can find. If you still find that the light is focused into too narrow a beam and not lighting up the area evenly, you can then play around with some kind of small reflector to scatter the light where you want it. While rather fiddly, alfoil is good for this.

Another thing to be aware of is colour choice. White or blue may look good, but the safest option is to go red. The photo receptors in your eyes are made up of rods and cones. The rods are highly receptive, but do not detect colour. The cones detect colour are but are less receptive (this is why you see less colour at night).

Now, the rods take a long time to adjust to changes in light levels.... you'd all know what happens when you turn the light off! The rods response peaks towards blue, however they have little respone to red light. What this means for you in your car, is that you can be looking out of the car with the rods fully adapted to night vision, then look at the red gauges in the car without affecting the rods "night vision".

Mind you, this is all partially moot as you're looking outside at the cars white headlights. But never the less, this still is a factor upto a point.

This is why you'll notice that the dash lighting on most of the upmarket european cars is red. If I remember correctly red is also more relaxing on the eye.

*If I buggered any of that up, someone correct me!

Sensational, thanks for that,

Could you please clear up which parts of the dash the combination gauge illumination lights and the instrument console lights are.

I was thinking 5000MCD blue, would that be too bright? 2000MCD be siufficiant?

I'd say 2000mcd would be plenty, but if you use something brighter, and it proves to be too bright, then you just turn em down with the dimmer.

I'm not familiar with the 280ZX dash so can't say exactly what those lights are. I'd recommend you get your hands on a wiring diagram. Also check if the bulbs are wired in series or parrallel, as if they're in series, then that will change your resistor calculations somewhat.

i think that 2000k may be a little on the dim side... they are bright as hell at night and when u look at them straight on, but when its dusk out, they can wash out esp if there not pointed directly at the guage face. if ur going white, i know they have 10k plus mcd. id definatly get the highest mcd possible. also a cheap way to go is buy in bulk off of ebay. 4 dollars for 2 at radio shack versus 20 dollars for a 100 of nice quality ones. also that means if u burn up a few its ok, and id also think about putting more leds in each gauge than light bulb holes, as leds are small and only need an 1/8 in hole to fit. id say about 5 per light should look good, and the thing about the red lights, its true, they use only red light at night aboard commerical ships at night because it doesnt affect your pupils dialiation.... but red isnt for everyone

also something to look into is electrolumince film.... its expensive, compared to leds, but it sure is nice, and its something youll have to make and experiment with, unless NR has them made for datsuns.. i dunno, they make em for hondas you can do a search on google to find out more bc i havent made my gauge faces yet

Why not just buy the 194 dash light bulbs with built-in resistors? They plug right in. Are they not bright enough for you?

Enclosed is an interesting alternative to dash revival.

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/314876/5

Thanks for the info guys. Appreciate it

BleachZee: Never new they existed, maybe this is what i'm looking for - a wedge bulb with 2 leds in it? Anyone know if these would work?

http://stores.ebay.com/BestHongKong-LED-and-More_LED-Applications-for-Vehicles_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQsclZallQQsotimedisplayZ2QQtZkm

I bought a ton of the ultrabtrite white leds and resistors from them to rework the dash lights in my '72. Good company!

Will

Thanks guys. I'll look into those wedge LED bulbs.

Heres a few new shots of my zed with the headlight covers on.

pic1 pic2 pic4 pic3

Geez....that looks really nice.

I'm not a big fan of them on 240s and 260s, but it suits the 280 really well.